Brendan Reid, a business writer, author, and coach, points out that strong interviewing skills are critical to the success of any hiring manager. Obviously, bringing people on board who have the right skills, knowledge, experience, and temperament will have enormous benefit to the hiring manager and to the company. Yet few companies, except the very

A lot has been written lately about “employee engagement” . . . some of it right here. The Gallup organization, which has studied it for many years, says employee engagement can be measured by the strength of the emotional connection an employee feels toward his or her company. If the employee sings the company song,

Simon Sinek is one of our favorite speakers on business topics. In our last posting, we talked about one of his “10 Rules for Success” . . . namely, the importance of continuous improvement. He challenges us to ask, every day, “How can we make our company a better company today than it was yesterday?”

We tend to associate “negotiating” with lawyers, politicians, and purchasing agents. But the fact is, we all negotiate. We negotiate compensation packages for new employees, we negotiate price and terms with our customers, we negotiate bedtimes with our kids, and household budgets with our spouses. So we all negotiate all sorts of stuff . .

Leadership is an endlessly fascinating topic because it’s one of those things that we recognize when we see it in action, but it’s frustratingly difficult to define or quantify in terms we can all agree upon. What does a great leader do that a not-so-great leader doesn’t do? What does a not-so-great leader do that

If I had to pick one business skill above all others, I’d picked listening. Not hearing. Listening. Hearing is passive, listening is active. Actually, listening isn’t just a business skill, it’s more of a life skill. And it’s a critical skill because whatever problem you’re facing, the clues to its solution are all around you

The days of the boss hurling down lightning bolts while his employees scurry to do his bidding are long gone. Employees today are better educated, better trained, and have access to more information than ever before. They have insights as to what’s working well and what’s not. In short, they are smart people who expect

Listening is an essential skill whether you’re at work or at home, whether you’re the CEO or an hourly worker. Yet it’s a skill that many of us either never acquired, or have allowed to lapse. In a conversation, do you find yourself crafting your next statement of brilliant insight rather than listening to

Professional sales people get a bad rap. Sales is an honorable profession, but it has been sullied by poor practitioners of the craft . . . sales people who are determined to make the sale regardless of the needs and wants of the customer. We’ve all run into pushy sales people who are clearly more

Your customers don’t have to do business with you. They have many suppliers from which to choose, but they have chosen you. Why? What is it about the product or service you offer that brings you customers and keeps them? You think you know why your customers have chosen to do business with you, but